P-W raised its overall record to 6-2, 2-1 Liberty Division. Quakertown fell to 4-4, 0-2.
``We've had a few injuries on defense this year and the rest of the guys knew we had to step things up,'' Fleming said. ``I knew I had to do more and I just came into the game thinking that I had to step my own game up.
``On the interception return, I saw their tight end [Doug Roberts] dragging across the pass route and it was my job to follow him. I saw the pass release and I anticipated it, got the interception and cut down the sideline.''
Although this has not been as dominating a P-W team as it has been in the past, the defense has been just fine, thanks to players like Fleming.
``We don't even compare [with past P-W teams],'' coach Joe Iacovitti said. ``Our defense has been pretty good, though.
``Fleming has played like that all year. He's been solid. When you have an injury to a player like [tackle] Chuck Tornetta, you're going to feel the effects of that. But players like Tim have stepped it up.''
Tornetta, a 6-1, 270-pound tackle on defense and guard on offense was lost due to a knee injury early in the season.
The Colonials got on the board with 7:42 left in the first quarter on sophomore Bryan Tornetta's 2-yard run. It was set up by a 36-yard run by fellow sophomore Bob Travaglini.
``We're young,'' Iacovitti said. ``What you're looking at is basically next year's team.''
The Panthers had eyes on their first win over P-W since 1993, but four fumbles killed those hopes.
``The positives were that our effort was there,'' Quakertown coach Steve Cherrybon said. ``We were competitive. We were not backing down from them and our defense was outstanding.
``Offensively, we had our little spurts but we were not as consistent as we'd like to be. On the fourth-down play, we wanted to run a lead dive off tackle, but our quarterback thought the sneak was there.''
The Panthers' game plan was to keep P-W's offense off the field, Cherrybon said. What he didn't figure on was P-W's defense scoring.
``We wanted to shorten the game,'' he said. ``We were down, 7-0, with a few minutes left in the game and we wanted to be aggressive to get the ball down the field and tie the game. We took our chances.''
